Magic in Nerima
by Sinai Wizard
Summary: Ranma/Strike Witches Crossover.  It starts off like most Ranma fanfics: Ranma gets malleted into water and ends up fighting a rival.  But wait, are those-?  Yes, they are!  The Strike Witches are in Nerima!  Chaos just can't leave Ranma alone, can it?
1. A Reunion of Sisters?

_**Disclaimer**_: I own neither Ranma ½, which is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and Strike Witches belongs to Humikane Shimada, not me. I know, you wish you owned them too.

_**Author's Notes**_: This is my first ever fanfiction (that I have published or shown anyone really) and wanted to know what people thought of it. I have had this idea in my head for a while now, ever since watching the first Strike Witches series actually. I hope I portrayed the characters as they should be, but if not, please let me know.

The timeline for this fic takes place right before Ranma's mother shows up. Since no dates are given whatsoever in the manga except for a few holidays, this will take place in 1998. Obviously, the timeline for Strike Witches is majorly messed up. So just take all of the dates of the Strike Witches and move them forward 54 years. This is four weeks after the 501st defeated Warlock.

Now, on with the show!

"Hello"—speech

'_Hello'_—thought

**/Boy/**—panda sign

*Hello*—language of the Joketsuzoku

**Chapter 1: A Reunion of…Sisters?**

"Ranma!" she called. "Ranma!"

_'Why does she feel the need to "cook" for me? I mean, that stuff shouldn't even be called food!'_ a certain pig-tailed martial artist thought while hiding. _'I know she is trying to be nice, but come on! She should realize by now that she can't cook!'_ The pig-tailed youth was currently hiding behind several boxes in the attic of the house, a hiding spot he was quite proud of at the moment since almost no one knows he knows about it. Only Kasumi and Nabiki Tendo are aware he knows of it, as they both ask him, from time to time, to bring boxes down for them.

"Ranma!" Akane calls, more insistently this time.

Suddenly, a large panda appears in front of Ranma, holding a sign. **/Boy, go eat the food/** flip **/your iinazuke made/**

"How'd ya know I was up here, oyaji?" he asked quietly.

**/Show some respect, boy!/** flip **/Now, go eat it so that the rest of us/** flip **/can go get some real food/**

"Oyaji! You're always so hungry, you eat it!" At that moment, he realized his mistake. Seconds later, a girl with short, blue hair entered the attic, carrying a tray of…something—with the way it is moving, possibly a mutant slime mold.

"Ranma!" she said with a smile. "There you are. Now, eat up! I made plenty, knowing how hungry you always are!" She held up a spoon to dip it in, but as she did so, a loud hiss could be heard from the pot. She brought the spoon back up, but all that was left of it was the handle she was holding.

"I'm not eatin' that, you tomboy! I do NOT wanna have my stomach pumped again!" he yelled, hoping not to eat the dangerous sludge.

"RANMA NO BAKA!" she shouted as she pulled her mallet-sama out of mallet space. Before Ranma could even blink, the girl had malleted him through the roof into LEO.

* * *

Predictably, as laid out by the cosmic laws of the universe, Ranma landed in cold water. This time, it was the large fountain in the nearby park. This just happened to trigger a rather annoying, yet remarkable, curse: Ranma's form quickly shrank, his hips grew out, his waist slimmed, his hair grew red, a rather large pair of breasts grew from his chest, and a certain piece of male equipment disappeared to be replaced by its feminine equivalent. Yes, Ranma is cursed to turn into a short, busty, redheaded girl when doused with cold water. A little shiver went down Ranma's spine. _'That…felt weird.'_

This was not turning out to be Ranma's day, as the cosmic laws of the universe (some affectionately call them Murphy's Law, which is strange, as it seems most attracted to Ranma), decided that they weren't quite done with our favorite redhead.

"NOW WHERE AM I! RANMA, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" shouted a young man in a black and yellow ensemble, along with a polka-dotted bandana.

'_Oh great, the eternally lost pig-boy. This day just keeps getting better and better'_ thought Ranma. "Hey, Ryoga," she said, getting out of the fountain.

"Ranma! You made Akane cry! Now, PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryoga shouted, pulling a large pink bamboo umbrella from the top of his pack. He charged at the redhead, swinging the umbrella down in an overhead swing. Ranma, however, had no intention of being smashed and jumped out of the way. The fountain, however, was not so lucky. The part Ranma had been standing in front of was smashed, and water flew everywhere. Ryoga quickly opened his umbrella and jumped away to avoid getting splashed.

"Aww, what's the matter? Does Ryoga not like the water?" teased the redhead, knowing very well that Ryoga would not be able to fight if splashed.

"Grrr…That does it, Ranma. Shi Shi Hokodan!" As he yelled this, a green energy built up in his hands and was released at Ranma. Barely having time to react, Ranma rolled out of the way but caught a glancing blow to her shoulder.

Coming back up, Ranma yelled her own "Moko Takabisha!" and shot a blue ki bolt at Ryoga. Crossing his arms, the bandana-clad boy crossed his arms and blocked the shot, being pushed back several yards. _'Chikushou'_, thought the redhead. _'That took more than I thought it would. It almost feels like…somethin's changin'. But why? Should probably see Tofu-sensei. I really don't wanna see the old ghoul right now.'_

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day outside with only a few small clouds to mar the view of the otherwise clear blue sky.

Not far away, four girls were walking through the park. Nothing out of the ordinary there. What was, however, was that not a single one of them was wearing pants. The two in the lead, one a shorter brunette wearing a fuku, the other a blonde with her hair in a braid and wearing a white blouse, light brown vest, darker brown jacket, and a green tie. The shorter of the two behind them had black hair in twin pony tails and was wearing a long-sleaved white blouse, and was holding onto the other girl. The other, a tall, busty redhead, was wearing a red jacket over a white blouse.

"This is so much fun! I wish the others had come with us, though. It seems weird that I'm more awake than the rest of them," said the short black-haired girl.

"They're probably just tired from the trip, Lucchini. Besides, Eila said that she and Sanya would join us later," explained the brunette.

"Yoshika, look!" the blonde exclaimed to the brunette, pointing at a young man and a short redhead fighting.

"What, Lynne-chan? Oh, wow! Wait, is that guy trying to hurt her? We gotta stop them!" the brunette, Yoshika, cried out.

"Shirley, what's happening?" Luchinni asked the tall redhead.

"I don't know. Yoshika's right, though. We have to stop them." Shirley felt a little tug on her arm when she kept moving. When she turned around to look, Lucchini had stopped her eyes wide and her body beginning to tremble slightly. She let go of Shirley's arm and fell to her knees. "Lucchini? Are you—" She stopped when she saw Lucchini's lips begin to move. Lynne and Yoshika had turned around and come up to them.

What they heard, though, completely blew them away as she whispered "Oneechan…" When she saw the bandana-clad boy hit the redhead with a green energy, she got up and started running for them. When she saw the redhead look haggard after shooting her own blue energy, she started running at full speed. "Oneechan!" she yelled.

* * *

Ranma looked exhausted after firing her Moko Takabisha. She lurched slightly as she stepped forward. "Let's finish this, Ryoga."

"Heh, you're not looking so good there, Ranma. Sure you can handle it?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's do this!" Ryoga shouted as he burst forward. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted as he drew near, extending his finger towards the ground near Ranma's feet. Just then, a young girl with black hair jumped in front of Ranma.

"Oneechan!" she shouted. Ryoga looked up in surprise, but it was too late to withdraw his attack.

Time seemed to slow down for Ranma. She saw this young girl jump in front of her, calling her "Oneechan", but that couldn't be right, could it? She was really a boy. However, this girl was in danger. What happened, next though, surprised everyone there. Ranma drew the girl closer to her, and then a blue glow erupted around the two. Two white, rounded ears with black stripes appeared on Ranma's head while a white tail with black stripes emerged from her back. Then, a massive glowing magic circle appeared in the air in front of them.

All of this took place while Ryoga's finger penetrated the ground just a meter before Ranma's feet, and then the ground literally _exploded_ in all directions. Strangely— or maybe not, this is Ranma we're talking about—not a single piece of earth made it past the hastily erected shield. "Ranma, what the hell just happened?" Ryoga asked as the shield and the feline parts faded away.

By this point, the other three girls had caught up and looked relieved that their friend was not hurt. Lucchini, don't scare me like that again," chided Shirley.

"Yeah, Lucchini, you scared me!" exclaimed Yoshika while Lynne just shook her head in agreement.

"Oneechan, are you okay?" Lucchini asked Ranma. At this point Ranma was looking downright exhausted, but did not appear injured.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked tiredly. "I don't…have…"At this, she clutched her head as if in pain, and slumped to the ground. The last thing she heard as her eyes closed was "Oneechan!"

**Translations:**

Oneechan—Older Sister  
Oyaji—old man/pops; disrespectful


	2. Revelations and a Meeting

**Disclaimer:** If I owned either Ranma ½ or Strike Witches, would I be writing this for free? Please don't sue me, as I have nothing of value (except my soul, but that's pretty hard to take).

"Hello"/_"Hello"_—speech

'_Hello'_—thought

**/Boy/**—panda sign

*Hello*—language of the Joketsuzoku

**Chapter 2: Revelations and a Meeting**

"Oneechan!" the young girl exclaimed as the redhead slumped down, eyes closing into unconsciousness. "Yoshika, can you help her? Please?" she asked imploringly.

In response, the brunette knelt down beside them, her own ears and tail of a mame-shiba appearing. "I'll try," she said. She held her hands out as a blue glow surrounded them. After several seconds, she stopped, saying "She'll be fine. She's just exhausted, probably from the fight and then casting that shield. I don't think I've ever seen one that powerful, even when we're in our strikers."

Lucchini turned back to stare at the redhead, a definite sparkle in her eyes. _'Wow. She's amazing. I wonder what she'd be like in a striker. I hope she remembers me. Then again, it has been eight years.'_ She started to snuggle up to the redhead. _'Oh, wow, so big and soft…even better than Shirley's. Better not tell Shirley, though, she'd get jealous.'_

The bandana-clad boy chose that moment to interrupt. "Will someone please tell me what…is going…" He also happened to catch sight of what Lucchini was doing with a certain rival of his, and began to sport a nosebleed, as always, at the sight of anything remotely sexual. Fortunately for him, Lucchini jumped up and began to yell at him. Okay, so he wasn't so fortunate.

"You big meanie! Why were you trying to hurt my oneechan?"

Recovering from the slight loss of blood, Ryoga came to his senses in time to hear the last part of this. "Oneechan? I think you might have her confused for someone else. You see, Ranma isn't actually a girl."

Momentarily stunned, she then asked "What do mean, not really a girl? Is her family name not Saotome?"

"Yes, it is, but—"

"Then I AM right. There's only one Saotome listed in all of Tokyo, and that red hair is rare in Japan." She stands there with her arms crossed, her tongue sticking out. She then turned around at the sound of a groan. "Oneechan?"

* * *

'_Ugh, my head. What is this place?'_ Ranma tried to stand up, clutching her head as if in pain. _'What the hell happened?'_

Looking around, she saw she was in a hallway that stretched on as far as she can see in either direction. However, on the walls were picture frames, each one the same size and shape as the others. _'What…are these?'_ she asked herself as she walked up to one. As she did so, a picture started to form…no, not a picture, a movie. _'That's—that's Jusenkyo! When all this mess started!'_ She backed away from the frame, watching as the memory faded to black.

'_Well, if I wanna find a way out, I guess I gotta pick a direction. Left seems as good as any._' She moved on to the left, passing more and more frames as the memories came into view and faded away. However, she stopped as she found a part of the hallway that was different. One of the frames was boarded up, with signs all over it stating **"Stay Away"**. On it was a poorly drawn picture of a cat.

She backed away from it fearfully. _'The Neko-Ken,'_ she thought. Not wanting to relive a true horror from her past, she kept moving. Not long after, though, she came to a part of the hallway that seemed faded. Each one of the frames were blocked, much more so than the one she assumed to be the Neko-Ken. _'What are these?'_ As she moved closer to one, she noticed a faint glow, a very _familiar_ glow. _'Oyaji? What's his ki signature doin' in my head?_' The closer she got to the frame, the harder it became to move forward. However, she was not going to be denied one of the few things that were rightfully hers.

When she finally reached the frame, she looked for weaknesses in the barrier. As she did so, a faint voice could be heard. It was hard to make out, but Ranma thought she heard it say _"Oneechan…Oneechan."_ As she listened to the voice, a small crack appeared in the barrier. She started hammering it, making the cracks grow larger and larger, until finally pieces of it started falling away. The pieces vanished before they hit the floor. She started tearing at the barrier, larger pieces falling away. The voice got louder as the frame became clearer. Finally, as the last piece fell away, it screamed one final time: "Oneechaaaan!"

* * *

_"Oneechan, come on, wake up! Daddy's gonna be in here any minute, and he'll yell at us again if we aren't ready!" A little girl with black hair kneels by a sleeping form, a redhead slightly bigger than the black-haired girl._

_"Ugh, fine, I'm up, I'm up!" As the redhead sat up, she groggily looked at the younger girl. "You know, Arya-chan, you should put your gi on. Otherwise otousan will get mad." That said, both girls got up and put on their gis._

_"Ranko! Arya! Get up! Training starts now!" A deep, commanding voice called out. The two girls ran out of the tent. When they stopped, Ranko heard a small thud. As she turned to look towards Arya, the last sight she saw before she was hit and darkness took her was of her younger sister unconscious on the ground in a tangled heap._

_She awoke later to the sound of chanting. She struggled to move, only to find that she was fastened to the ground. Then, she felt an immense pain flow through her and she knew know more._

_It was then, in the darkness of the night, that HE awoke, alone, in his tent. Only vague memories of the past. The only clear memory he had was that of his father, teaching him martial arts. No memory of his sister. No memory of HERself, or of HER name, just that HIS name was Ranma Saotome._

With the end of that memory, Ranma awoke to the world once more with a small groan. What she did not notice, however, was the barriers on the frames slowly cracking, breaking away ever so slowly.

* * *

"Ugh…What-what happened?" Ranma asked as she slowly sat up. She noticed that there were several girls around her, each with nothing on their lower halves but panties. She panicked for a moment, but then realized that she was in her girl form and they couldn't know about her curse yet. _'Yay, no new fiancés yet.'_

"Yoshika-chan said that you fainted from the fight and magical exhaustion, oneechan," explained the younger, black-haired girl.

_'She looks-she looks just like Arya-chan. But was that a dream, or an actual memory?'_ "RANMA! How dare you seduce even more women when you already have three fiancés!" shouted Ryoga. The bandana-clad boy was, at this point, entirely enraged, not truly noticing the girls surrounding Ranma anymore. Indeed, if he had, he would be a bloody mess on the ground by this point, unconscious due to an extreme, prolonged nose bleed.

At this, the three older girls were looking back and forth between Ranma and Ryoga strangely. "THREE fiancés?" inquired the standing redhead at the same time the blond and the brunette yelled "Seduced!"

Ranma groaned again, for an entirely different reason though. "Geez, Ryoga, wanna say anything else? You know that Akane and Ukyo are only engaged to me because of my oyaji, and Shampoo is only engaged because of some stupid law of a backwater village. Um, who are you?" he asked the three girls that had been staring at Ranma and Ryoga.

"I'm Shirley Yeager. I take it you," the redhead pointed to Ranma, "are Ranma?" At the redhead's nod, she turned to Ryoga. "And you are Ryoga?" He also nodded.

The brunette introduced herself as Yoshika, while the blond said her name was Lynnette. "But you can call me Lynne. Everyone else does."

By this point, Ranma was back on her feet. The young black-haired girl ran up to her and clung to her, hugging her with all her might. "I missed you, oneechan. I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered as she clung to Ranma.

"I think-I think you have me confused with someone else. They keep callin' you Lucchini. I can barely remember, but I think, if I even did have a little sister, I think her name was Arya." At this, Lucchini's eyes widened as she pulled back.

"Th-that was my birth name," she whispered, so softly that Ranma barely caught it. "All I could remember about you, oneechan, was your red hair and your blue eyes. And…the way you felt, how it felt to be with you. I haven't felt like this in eight years. Plus, your magic felt almost exactly the same as mine," she said, getting more confident the more she spoke.

"Magic? You know about my curse?"

"What curse?" Lucchini asked.

Ranma sighed heavily at this. "C'mon back to the dojo with me. I'll explain it there," she said. "You three can come if you want, too."

The three girls looked at each other after seeing Lucchini's pleading look. "Well…" Shirley started, "I guess. Can't let the squirt go off without us, now, can we?"

"I don't care what you do, Ryoga, but I'm not holding your hand for you. If you get lost, I'm not looking for you." Ranma glared at Ryoga as she said this. When she started walking, she noticed a pain, much like a cramp, in her back, just above her bottom. As she felt around down there, she noticed a hole in her pants right where the cramp seemed to be centered. "Aw, shoot. I tore my pants," she exclaimed.

"That probably happened when you were using your magic. Let me guess, it feels like you have a cramp there, right?" asked Shirley, smirking at her fellow redhead.

Ranma nodded, then the full extent of what was said caught up with her. "Wait, magic? You mean my ki? That's never happened before, though."

"Your ki? Oh, you mean that blue energy you shot at that boy back there? No, I'm talking about the shield you used to protect you and Lucchini. That's probably what happened. I did see the tail and ears."

"Tail and ears? What are you talking about?" Ranma was thoroughly confused at this point. _'I mean, I know magic exists, but I thought it was just potions and curses and stuff. She's talking about it like the stuff that wizards and witches use. But, that stuff isn't real, right? Oh, who am I kidding, with my luck, it would HAVE to exist. Great, just one more thing to add to my messed up life.'_

"Yeah, that's why most of us don't wear pants, just low-cut panties. It really hurts when the tail rips through like that," Shirley explained. "So, are you a martial artist or something? You said something about a dojo, and you looked pretty good out there fighting that other guy." She looked back, but couldn't see him anywhere. "Hey, where is he? I don't see him. He seemed like he wanted to come with us."

"Oh, he's probably half-way to the Amazon by now. Ryoga has the WORST sense of direction I've ever seen. He'll come around again in a few weeks. But, yeah, I'm a martial artist. One of the best."

"Well, someone's cocky."

"Just confident." By now, they were approaching the Tendo Dojo. "Well, here we are. The Tendo Dojo. Me and oyaji have been stayin' here for the past several months." As they walked in, Ranma shouted out "Tadaima!"

"Okaerinasai, Ranma-chan!" Ranma and the girls were greeted by a willowy young woman with long, brown hair. "Oh my, who are your guests, Ranma-chan? Please, come in, would any of you care for tea and cookies? Oh my, excuse me, my name is Kasumi."

As each of the girls introduced themselves to Kasumi, they moved into the living area. It was there, however, that Ranma spotted a certain older, bald man in a white gi and glasses. As the man spotted the girls accompanying her, particularly the young black-haired one following very close to Ranma, he began to get very nervous as he seemed to recognize her.

"Oyaji, don't get any ideas of running. There are some…things…that we need ta talk about later," Ranma said as she glared at the bald man.

A second older man, this one in full possession of his hair, which was black and quite long, started questioning the bald man. "Saotome-kun, who are these girls? They aren't more fiancés are they? They aren't, right!" As he said this, a large demon-like head appeared behind him, forked tongue sticking out and hissing his displeasure at the bald man.

"N-n-no, o-of course not, Tendo-kun. I would never do that."

"Oh?" a new voice inquired. "What about Ukyo Kuonji and the dowry you stole from her? Or that time you sold Ranma for some rice, fish, and two pickles? Or what about—" By this point, the speaker was visible. She too had brown hair, but it was cut in a bob style and she had a very dangerous smirk on her face.

"Okay, okay, you've made your point, Nabiki."

Ranma turned back to the girls at this point. "The bald oyaji there," she said pointing to the man, "is my father, Genma Saotome. The other is Soun Tendo, the owner of this house. And that," she said, pointing to the new girl, "is Nabiki Tendo. If possible , don't ever make a deal with her. She'll take ya for all ya've got."

"Why, Ranma, I didn't know you thought so poorly of me. I do leave a little bit left to those stupid enough to get caught in my scams," Nabiki said. "Now, I wonder how Akane would react if she found out about this."

"And I wonder how the rest of you would fare if I wasn't here to eat her toxic waste she calls cooking. Would she turn to you next, Nabiki?" Ranma asks, thinking that she has finally won a battle against Nabiki.

"You wouldn't dare," she hisses.

"Try me."

"…Fine. I'll let you go, this time. But I won't stop her from finding you."

With that, Nabiki walks out of the room. _'Most likely to set up her video camera.,'_ Ranma thought. Kasumi soon walked in with several tea pots, cups, and a very large plate of cookies. "I brought some hot water for you, Ranma-chan. I assumed you were going to tell them, if they don't already know," Kasumi said, a small hint of command hidden in her voice, if you knew what to look for. _'Another sign that there's more goin' on in her head than people think. Well, I hope the girls aren't too freaked out by this,'_ she thought as she lifted the tea pot.

Without further ado, she poured the hot water over her head. However, she, or rather he, noticed that it took the entire teapot of hot water to change her to him. The four girls were staring at him with wide eyes. He registered a look of extreme horror in Lucchini's eyes. "Wh-what just happened? Oneechan?"

"This is the curse that I was talkin' about earlier. When oyaji and me were in China, we came across this valley with a ton of springs and bamboo sticking out of them. Because oyaji there couldn't read Chinese, he didn't know that the springs were cursed. So, we jumped on the bamboo and started sparrin'. Soon, I knocked oyaji down into one of the springs and out jumps this huge panda. I was shocked, and didn't dodge when it hit me into a spring, and I came out lookin' like the girl I was just a few minutes ago. The guide said that the curses activate with cold water and are reversed with warm water."

"Wait, so you were a boy when you were knocked in?" asked Lynne.

"So, you were born a boy then?" asked Yoshika at the same time.

After Ranma had worked out what the two had said, he answered Lynne's first. "Yes, I was a boy. However, there's somethin' oyaji an' I need to discuss."

Genma paled at this, but then said, "What is there to discuss, boy? Don't you think you would remember if you were a girl before you disgraced yourself by falling into Jusenkyo? Oh, what a disgrace my son is!" He started wailing at this, shedding crocodile tears.

"Well, oyaji, let me ask you this. Does the name Arya mean anything to you?" Genma flinched at this, but shook his head to deny it. "Or maybe Ranko?" Ranma narrowed his eyes and glared at Genma as he said this. Seeing the look in Ranma's eyes, Genma paled and could do nothing as his son continued to stare at him. By this point, Lucchini was staring at him as well.

Soun was looking at his friend in puzzlement as these questions were being asked, while Kasumi had a dangerous glint in her eyes as several facts were pulling themselves together in her mind, the same exact thing happening with Nabiki, in fact.

"So tell me, oyaji, was I born a boy, or did you use a magic ritual on me when I was eight years old to change me into a boy? Am I an only child, or did you abandon my little sister when she was only four years old?" As he progressed, Ranma began to become enraged at his father. "Answer me!" he shouted.

Genma had been backing away the entire time. When Ranma shouted the final command, Genma turned tail and ran. Ranma turned his back on the fleeing figure, a look of disgust finding a home on his face. It was then that he saw Akane walking through the other doorway.

"Um, ah, hey, Ranma. I'm sor—" She stopped as she saw who else occupied the room with Ranma. "Ranma," she said tersely. "What are you doing with these half-dressed hussies in my house!" she screamed. She brought her mallet out to hit him into LEO for the second time that day, but something extraordinary happened: Ranma dodged the mallet. He sidestepped her attack, grabbed the mallet, and threw it out the door.

"Don't," he said in a deathly calm voice, "call my sister or her friends hussies." He never once looked at Akane as he said this. "I suggest you apologize to them," he said.

"Why should I?" she responded huffily.

"Akane! It is very rude to insult guests like that. Now, apologize!" reproached Kasumi. Akane looked at her sister in betrayal before turning to the four girls.

"Sorry," she said, with an insincere look. She then glared at Ranma and stalked out of the room.

Just then, a ringing noise could be heard coming from the direction of the girls. "Oh, shoot, that's probably Eila. What time is it?" Shirley asked. Kasumi replied that it was about 2:30 PM. "Darn, we were supposed to meet her and Sanya fifteen minutes ago," she said, finally finding her cell-phone. "Hello? Hey, Eila. Yeah, sorry about that, something happened and we forgot about it. The Neko-Hanten? Sure, we'll be there shortly. Bye!" She said, hanging up the phone. "Sorry about that. Ranma, would you mind showing us where the Neko-Hanten is, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"Sure, why not? Gotta talk ta the old ghoul anyways," Ranma said, remembering the abnormalities with his curse a short while ago. "Alright, let's go. You need anything while I'm out, Kasumi?"

"No, I went out yesterday, Ranma-kun. Go have fun. And be respectful to elder Cologne," she chided gently.

"Yes Kasumi," Ranma replied, properly chastised. With that, Ranma and the four girls made their way out of the house, towards two more girls and a possible answer for his questions—what questions he had, though, he wasn't quite sure just yet.

**Translations:**

Oneechan—Older sister  
Oyaji—old man/pops; disrespectful  
Tadaima—"I'm home"  
Okaerinasai—"Welcome home"

**Author's Notes:** Well, here's the next installment. This is most likely going to be the average length of my chapters. That first one was just to get my feet wet. Anyways, this fic will be getting more humorous in the next few chapters. Just have to deal with the small Genma problem.

Next chapter, as I not so subtly revealed at the end, is the confrontation with elder Cologne and with Shampoo. You can probably guess how that is going to turn out, but not even I'm sure how some of these things will go until I start writing them, like the mindscape thing earlier in this chapter.

Now, please, review! You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that people are reading my story, putting it on their alerts and favorites lists, and most importantly, reviewing! So please, if you have the time, review, even if it is just to tell me if you think it is good or bad!


	3. Confrontations At the Cat Cafe

***Update Notice*** It is a very small thing, but for those of you who were annoyed by the Japanese words in earlier chapters, there are now translations for them at the bottom of chapter.

"Hello"—speech

'_Hello'_—thought

**/Boy/**—panda sign

*Hello*—language of the Joketsuzoku

**Chapter 3: Confrontations At the Cat Café**

In the Nerima prefecture of Tokyo, Japan, there are two constants that will always be true as long as a certain aquatransexual martial artist resides there: 1) the aquatransexual, Ranma, will be surrounded by women; and 2) chaos will find Ranma no matter the situation. Now, as Ranma was walking down the streets of Nerima, constant number one was already in effect: he was surrounded by women. Granted, one of them was his twelve year old sister, but the constant never said anything about family.

What about constant number two, then? Well…_SPLASH!_ "What'd ya do that for!" shouted a very irate, very _female_ voice at a certain old lady. Said elder just continued to splash the sidewalk with her ladle, ignoring the world around her. Had anyone looked closely, however, one would have seen a glint in her eyes and a hint of a smirk beginning to form.

"Does that happen a lot, oneechan?" Lucchini asked as she clung to Ranma.

"More than you'd think. The curse made me a damn water magnet. Now it seems like I get splashed whenever I go outside," the shorter redhead explained.

As they made their way towards the Neko-Hanten, Lynne commented on the similarities between Ranma and Shirley. "You know, Lynne-chan, you're right. I would have thought that Shirley would be Ranma's sister, not Lucchini," Yoshika replied.

"But it would make sense, with the way Lucchini attached herself to Shirley. I mean, they're both redheads, and the same age."

"And the eyes. They both have blue eyes," said Yoshika.

"Well, I do know for a fact that I'm not her sister," said the redhead in question. "I was born in the US."

The next few minutes passed in a companionable silence, until Ranma announced, "We're here!" The four new girls looked up and saw a small two-story building with a sign above the front door that simply said "Neko-Hanten".

As they walked in, a purple blur could be seen as it rushed towards them. When they were finally able to see it, a purple-haired girl had attached herself to Ranma in a glomp, which also proceeded to knock Lucchini away. "Airen! Ranma come take Shampoo on date, yes?" the purple-haired girl, presumably Shampoo, asked.

"Shampoo, get offa me! I gotta talk ta the old gh-I mean, Cologne," shouted the exasperated redhead.

An indignant shout could be heard off to the side. "Hey! What are you doing to my oneechan? Get off of her!"

Shampoo, intrigued by the comments, surprisingly obliged the voice. Looking around, she saw four other girls standing very close-by. "Who you?" she asked them. She turned to Ranma next. "They best not be fiancés, airen. Shampoo not be happy if true."

Looking around nervously, Yoshika soon spotted two other girls in a booth nearby. "Eila! Sanya!" she called. The two girls waved them over, leaving Ranma, Lucchini, and Shampoo near the front.

Ranma glared at Shampoo while saying, "Lucchini, go sit down with your friends. This'll be over with soon." Once Lucchini was safely at the table, Ranma started to talk to Shampoo again. "Shampoo, Lucchini is my younger sister. Those are her friends. NOT fiancés. Understand?" At Shampoo's nod, she continued. "I am NOT here ta take you on a date. Okay?"

"But airen, you promise take Shampoo out on date today!" she cried.

"No, I didn't. You haven't been able to get me with that one for months now. Now, where is Cologne?"

"Right here, son-in-law," an aged, crinkly voice said. Ranma whirled around to see a diminutive figure with long, white hair, balancing on a staff. "I assume that you wish for the conversation to be private?"

At Ranma's nod, she led her into the back. "Shampoo, watch the restaurant. I shouldn't be busy for long," the elder said. She pogoed on her staff into the back room while Ranma followed closely behind. Once the door was closed, she turned to Ranma. "Alright, son-in-law, what is this all about?"

Ranma sat down in one of the chairs, getting comfortable before speaking. "Cologne, somethin's happening to my curse. Earlier today, it took more hot water than normal to change me back, an entire teapot full of water. It also felt like it took longer to change back. It usually happens in less than a second, but it felt like it took at least a second, maybe two, ta change back."

Cologne sat there on her staff, not speaking. Finally, after several moments, she asked, "Who are those girls out there, Ranma? I sense something in them, something that I also sense in you. This…aura…I have not sensed it in you before today. Has something happened recently?"

"The youngest one, the one with black hair, she's my sister."

"Well now, that is an interesting development. I assume she is your full sister?"

"Oyaji may be a misogynistic, lazy panda, but he wouldn't cheat on his wife. She was born a year before he took us on that damn training trip."

"Ah, so the speech and the intelligence really is just an act," Cologne proposed with a smirk on her face.

"One of the basic tenets of Anything-Goes: let your opponent underestimate you. You are the only one who knows, aside from possibly Nabiki. Now, about my curse…" he inquired.

She sat there once more, deep in concentration as if debating whether or not to speak on the matter. Her brows furrowed, she started to speak. "There is only one reason I can think of that would cause this to happen. If I am correct, then your male form will fade away, leaving only an un-cursed female form behind. "

A resigned look slowly appeared on Ranma's face. "Let me guess: this would only happen if I was…if I was born a girl, right?" Cologne could do nothing but nod, her power of speech having been lost after looking at the forlorn look upon the youth's face. "I was hoping for something—anything—else. But, I guess I expected this when I came in, after the way oyaji acted and from the little bit of my past I could remember."

The elder once again found her voice. "Ranma—"

"What, no 'son-in-law'?"

"Not anymore, child. From what you have just told me, we have wronged you immensely. And for that, I apologize. As matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, I hereby annul both the Kiss of Death and the Kiss of Marriage. I will have the official documents for you by the end of the week." After this, however, a more thoughtful and curious look found its way to her face. "Perhaps you can satisfy an old woman's curiosity, Ranma. What is it that I sense in the auras of both you and those girls?" she inquired.

"Magic," she said simply, but with a mirthful smile. With that, she walked out of the room towards her sister and friends.

Cologne stayed in the room thinking on that one simple statement until she remembered something from earlier: a tear in Ranma's pants, right where a tail might conceivably form. She smiled, which soon grew into a grin, until she finally started laughing. "So, Ranma is a witch! That boy—girl—child—has possibly the most chaotic life I have ever heard of. Well, time to go watch this train wreck!" she exclaimed, laughing once more as she pogoed out of the room.

* * *

As Lucchini moved to sit down, a second blond spoke up. "Hey, guys, what took you?"

Yoshika starts to explain. "Well, we were walking through the park when we saw this guy fighting a girl that looks a lot like Shirley, actually, but, well…shorter."

"Wait, don't tell me, this girl is Shirley's long lost sister or something," Eila commented.

"Not mine," Shirley said with a smirk. "Although she certainly looks like she could be my sister, doesn't she? I wouldn't be surprised if we have similar bust sizes." Lucchini got a mischievous grin on her face while Yoshika got a faraway look on hers as she blushed a bright red.

Lucchini suddenly appeared behind Yoshika, feeling her up. "Sorry, Yoshika-chan, but you've got another person to measure up to. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll grow up someday soon!" she said, sitting down once more. She was giggling madly with a glint in her eyes.

Yoshika cleared her throat, suddenly feeling very hot. "Aaanyways, all of a sudden, we see Lucchini running towards the two, shouting 'Oneechan' the entire time," continued Yoshika.

"You have a sister?" asked the silver-haired girl, Sanya. Until now, she had been completely silent, content to just listen.

"Yep!. Like Yoshika said, Shirley looks a lot like her, just taller. I think that's why I latched onto Shirley soon after we met. She reminds me of oneechan," Lucchini explained.

"Anyways, she jumped right in front of the guy attacking Ranma—that's her name, by the way—and just before this guy attacked, Ranma pulled Lucchini back and then put up the most powerful shield I've ever seen," Yoshika said with more than just a little awe in her voice.

"It was very fortunate she did that, because the other guy made the ground explode just as soon as the shield went up." Lynne came in at this point, seeing as Yoshika was still trying to imagine what Ranma would be like in a striker unit. "She fainted from exhaustion soon after, but woke up just a few minutes later. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it."

"So, what are the rest of the crew doing?" asked Shirley. "Let me guess, Hartmann's still asleep, right?"

"Of course. Would you expect anything less of her?" Eila replied sardonic ally.

"Mmm, sleep," yawned Lucchini. "Wake me up when oneechan gets back.," she said as laid her head on the table. Light snores were soon heard coming from her sleeping form.

Sanya looked at her curiously, and Shirley smirked in response. "I think she's trying to beat Hartmann at sleeping. At least she isn't as messy. So, what about the others?"

"Well, you know the major, she'll train no matter where we are. Minna and the others were just waking up when we left. We told her to call once they got Hartmann up and Barkhorn calmed down. You know how she—"

Before she could finish her thought, the door to the restaurant slammed open. A young girl with long brown hair tied back with a ribbon walked in. Her blue chef's outfit clung tightly to her body. And yes, like most citizens of Nerima, she was wearing pants. However, the most prominent features of the girl were the giant spatula strapped to her a back and a bandolier of throwing spatulas. "Shampoo!" she shouted. As the purple-haired ramen chef walked out, the girl began to glare. "Where is he? Where are you hiding Ran-chan, you purple-haired bimbo?"

"What spatula-girl mean? I no hide Ranma," she said, wondering what brought on this bout of jealousy in the normally easy-going girl. Then again, this IS Ranma…

Eila leaned over to whisper to Shirley. "Isn't Ranma a girl? I mean, what are the chances that two Ranma's in the same area?"

Shirley grimaced as she responded. "It's…complicated. But I'm pretty sure they're talking about our Ranma." She looked over at Lucchini. "You aren't gonna want to miss this, Lucchini," she said while shaking the sleepy girl. "Two girls are fighting over your sister!"

Lucchini looked up at Shirley, a blank look in her eyes. It took a minute for the words to register, but when they did, she got a certain look in her eye. She turned around excitedly to watch the proceedings.

Unfortunately, the last was said just a bit too loud. Ukyo turned to look in the direction of the six girls and, seeing as they were all (aside from Lucchini that is) around Ranma's age, decided that they were threats to her territory. As such, she started to stalk towards them.

"I wouldn't," Shampoo warned. Ukyo stopped and turned around, her reaching for one of her throwing spatulas. She scowled at the purple haired girl and continued on towards her goal.

* * *

Earlier, in a hotel not far from the Neko-Hanten, a growing level of noise was beginning to grate on the employees. Specifically, the shouts coming from a room on the third story. A room in which two of the Strike Witches were staying.

Shrieks of outrage could be heard coming from the room. Shouts of "Wake up!" and "HOW do you call yourself a soldier!" and one or two shouts that would inspire even the most foul-mouthed sailor.

Inside the room, a brown-haired girl was standing over the inert form of a blonde-haired girl, her white blouse strewn haphazardly over the top half of her body. The brunette had her hands on her hips, looking very, very frightening in her crisp military-style gray top and a scowl on her face.

"Ugh, just forty more minutes…" the blonde said, rolling over to try to block out the noise. As she did this, it became very obvious to the brunette that the girl had nothing on up top.

Blushing and turning her head, she yelled, "We are supposed to meet the others in thirty minutes! Get up, Hartmann! And put some clothes on!"

As the words finally seemed to register in the blonde's head, she lifted her head up and groggily asked, "It's that late already? Why didn't you wake me sooner?" She sat up and found a bra laying close by, strapping it on. "And why am I on the floor?"

"I've been TRYING to get you up for the past twenty minutes! I pushed you off the mattress when you didn't even respond!"

Hartmann, getting to her feet, looked around the room for something to put on over her bra. Finally finding one, she walks over carefully and starts to put it on. The other girl looks around the room in disgust. Clothes are strewn everywhere, books and electronics are scattered about, and CDs are all over the place. Well, only on one side of the room. Hartmann isn't stupid enough to let any of it creep over to the other half of the room.

"How? How do you manage to destroy a room after only twelve hours? You were sleeping for all but thirty minutes of it!"

The blonde yawned. "Aw, lighten up, Trude! We're on vacation! Even the major said she'd be training less!"

At that, the scowl on Trude's face disappeared. She sighed, and acquiesced. "Well, come on. Let's go. Eila said that they were at some place called the "Neko-Hanten". Just down the street."

"What!" The blonde's eyes are wide by now. "If it's that close, I could have slept another twenty minutes!" Seeing the look on her friend's face, she giggled. "Heehee! You should have seen your face!" After a minute, Trude gave a little laugh as well. "Now, let's go! I'm hungry."

* * *

As Trude was vainly attempting to wake Hartmann up, three young ladies were strolling through the town of Nerima. Each of them was gaining quite a bit of attention. And while each of them was quite attractive in their own manner, it was not what was gaining them all of the attention. No, it was the fact that each of them was walking around with essentially nothing below the waist but a pair of panties, or in the case of the blonde, pantyhose as well.

The leader of the trio, a redhead by the name of Minna Wilcke, was wearing a light green, long-sleeved blouse. She had her longer hair parted in the front so that her long bangs framed her face, her red-brown eyes glittering in the sun.

The second, a slightly older black-haired woman by the name of Mio Sakamoto, had a white eye patch with a blue stripe covering her right eye. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing her white Japanese Navy uniform, displaying her rank to be a major.

The last of the trio, a glasses-wearing blonde by the name of Perrine Clostermann, wore her hair loose midway down her back. She too wore her uniform, that of the French air force, a deep blue in color. She was also the only one of the three to wear more than panties below the waist: she wore a pair of black pantyhose.

The three were currently walking through the market district of Nerima, looking at all of the stalls lining the streets. "This seems like a nice, peaceful town," Minna said. The other two agreed.

A certain Tendo daughter couldn't help but look up at that. She smiled a greeting to the three as they walked by. "Hello, my name is Kasumi Tendo. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear what you just said. It can get very exciting around here quite often."

"Oh, really?" inquired Perrine. "Sounds just like home, then." She sighed. "So much for a relaxing vacation, eh Major?" she said, looking at Sakamoto.

"Well, that is interesting. I guess then that the locals won't mind if we train around here, then?" Sakamoto asked of the kind girl.

"Oh, not at all. Nerima is home to many martial artists, so the people are used to it by now. Oh my, look at the time; I have to be getting home now. It was nice to meet you!" she said, paying for her groceries and walking away.

"She seemed nice," Minna said. "I wonder if she knows any of the martial artists around here?"

One of the street vendors chose that moment to speak up. "'Knows any'? Her house is the center of most of the chaos in Nerima. One of the martial artists lives there, Ranma Saotome. Feel kinda sorry for the kid. His pop put him in a tough position, engaged him to who knows how many women, most of the time for food. They moved in with one of the fiancés a few months back, and this place just exploded with chaos."

"So, where do these people live?" Sakamoto asked.

"Oh, ya can't miss it. Once you get out of the market district, take a left. It'll be on your right, a big walled complex. It's the Tendo Dojo," he explained.

"Thank you," Sakamoto responded.

They slowly made their way through the district, stopping at the different vendors. Soon, though, a cell phone started ringing. Minna began to look through her purse for the source of the ringing. Soon, she found it and answered the call. "Hello, this is Minna. Oh, Trude. So, you finally managed to get Erica up, huh?" Minna laughed at something. "Yes, I'm not too surprised at that. She is famous for her messes. Uh huh, we're in the market district right now. Oh, the Neko-Hanten? Yes, we can find it. We passed it just a little bit ago. Okay, see you there. Bye bye," she said, hanging up the cell phone and putting it back in her purse.

"Wow, I expected it take longer than that for her to wake Hartmann up," Sakamoto commented.

"Yes, well, Trude has always been good at getting her up. It's the messes that Erica creates and neglects to clean up that try her patience." She continued looking at the merchandise at the stall they had stopped at. "How much for this hat?" she asked of the vendor, pointing to a straw hat.

"That? It's 1,500¥," he replied, taking the money from her and handing her the hat, not really seeing anything other the visions of loveliness that stood before him.

"Well," Minna said, donning her new hat, "let's head back towards the restaurant now. That is where we are all meeting, apparently."

* * *

The trio arrived only a moment or two after Hartmann and Trude. "Finally!" Hartmann exclaimed. "I'm starving, let's go eat!"

Trude just shook her head at her friend. "We got here just a minute before them. Honestly, you'd think we've been withholding food from you the way you're acting!"

They walked in just in time to see Ukyo reach the booth full of their friends, her giant combat spatula in her hands. The five girls in the doorway were struck senseless by the course of events playing out in front of them, just as the six in the booth were. As she reached the closest one, Lucchini, she remarked, "You're just a flat-chested little girl. Now to get rid of you so Ranchan and I can be together!"

Time seemed to slow down as Ukyo was began a downward sweep at the young girl, whose eyes were full of fear. Before the stroke was even halfway down, though, a red blur could be seen rushing forward. The blur intercepted the spatula and held it in place, a blue glow beginning to surround it. Ranma was glowering by the time she stopped moving. "Don't. Touch. My. Sister," she hissed forcefully.

"But Ranma, she's —wait, di-did you say…sister?" she finished weakly, her other thought dropping out of her mind immediately. _'After all,'_ she thought, _'not even Ranma would forgive something like that.'_ Ukyo slowly stepped back, lowering the spatula slowly.

It was then that she got a good look at Ranma. The blue glow remained, Ranma tense for any sudden action from the chef. What really got her attention, though, were the rounded white ears with black stripes and the similarly colored tail. It also seemed to catch the attention of the newcomers to Nerima. As she took all of this in, the spatula fell from her hands to ground with a loud *clank!*

"Sugoi…" Sanya whispered in awe. The looks of the witches changed from that of shocked horror at seeing someone their age attack Lucchini, to that of awe and amazement at Ranma. Indeed, there were several slack jaws in the room, both from the speed she displayed in stopping the attack and the sheer raw power exuding from the pigtailed martial artist. The only one who didn't seem to staring at Ranma was Lucchini, who was grinning from ear to ear, her little fang visible. She jumped out of the booth and jumped up to hug Ranma from behind. She visibly tensed until she heard her sister's voice.

"That was AMAZING, oneechan!" At this, Ranma relaxed. Consequently, the blue aura vanished, taking with it the ears and tail. Shampoo sighed in relief after noticing this, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. _'Well, no neko-ken right now. I definitely do not want to be near him—her—whatever—when Ranma finds out about the tiger ears and tail,'_ the Chinese Amazon thought to herself.

"Someone want to tell me WHAT the hell just happened?" Trude suddenly asked. She was rapidly processing the scene, marking Ukyo as a possible enemy and a threat to her friends.

"Well," Hartmann started, "Lucchini apparently has a sister that looks like Shirley that saved her from that crazy girl with the spatula. Oh, she's also a witch." She then turned to Ranma. "Good going, Red!" she shouted, grinning. "Now, can we eat? I'm starving!" The only ones who did not face fault after hearing that last were Ranma and Lucchini, who heartily agreed with the girl.

The others, finally out of their stupor, began to enter the restaurant. One, the woman with the eye patch, approached Ukyo. "Ma'am, as a ranking officer of the Japanese Navy as well as a ranking officer of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, I am apprehending you for attempted assault and attempted murder of a member of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, as well as that of a twelve year old child, specifically Ensign Francesca Lucchini." Ukyo looked ready to bolt. "If you do not come quietly, I will use force, as will the rest of Wing. As there are only three non-members of the Wing in this room, I can guarantee you will not make it out of this room except under detainment."

As soon as she finished saying this, a large cloud of flour appeared in the area. A scant second after it appeared, it was cleared away by a small gust while Hartmann could be seen with a blue glow surrounding her with the ears and tail of a daschund. She soon spotted Ukyo making a mad dash for the door, which just happened to be in her direction. She smirked and stood in the way. She was not, however, expecting to be bowled aside in Ukyo's attempt to escape.

As the others started to run after her, Ranma called for them to stop. "It's not worth it. Hand her over to the police here and she'd be out in a week at max. Trust me, it's happened all too often around here." The witches turned to stare at her once more, this time with shock and disgust warring for dominance in their looks.

Shampoo voiced her agreement. "Law very lazy in Nerima. Now, who want eat too, too good ramen?" she asked cheerfully.

After ordering and rearranging a few tables in order to seat them all, they began discussing what had happened that day. First and foremost, Ranma introduced herself to the rest of the witches. Lucchini, still staying very close to her, couldn't resist putting her two yen in, stating, "Yep! She's my oneechan! A witch, too, just like us! Doesn't she have just the cutest white tiger ears?"

The others noticed that Ranma had suddenly gone pale. "Ranma-san?" started Lynne. "Are you okay?"

"D-d-did you s-say t-t-tiger? As in, th-the big c-c-c—fe-feline thing?" At everyone's confused nods, Ranma did the only sensible thing at that point: she fainted dead away, her brain overloading on the fact that she became part cat.

**Translations:**

Oneechan—older sister  
Sugoi—wow; exclamation of awe/amazement  
Airen—beloved  
Oyaji—old man/pop; disrespectful

**Author's Notes:** Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! Now that all of the witches are present, the humor will continue to rise. Next chapter will deal with Ranma's first interactions with the Strike Witches as a whole, instead of just the four she originally met. Dealing with the fact that her familiar is a cat is something that Ranma will be dealing with for a LONG time and a central element for the early parts of this fic, along with Lucchini and the rest of her family.

Ja ne!


	4. Entering the Fold

**Author's Notes:** Hey guys. Sorry this is so late coming out. I've just been really busy with my classes. Anyways, I should be able to update this more frequently than 1 chapter per month now. For those of you who have been reviewing, thank you! Also, a big thank you to **Cylon One **for helping to correct several things in the first few chapters. For the rest of you, please review if you find yourself enjoying this story!

And now, without further ado, Chapter Four of Magic in Nerima!

"Hello"—speech

'_Hello'_—thought

**/Boy/**—panda sign

*Hello*—language of the Joketsuzoku

**Chapter 4: Entering the Fold**

Seconds after the pigtailed martial artist had fainted, a shriveled old woman came out of the back room. All of the girls turned to look at her. What caught their attention was that she was pogoing on top of a gnarled staff. "Come, children, we'll put her on one of the beds upstairs. I'm sure that would be much more comfortable than the wooden seat she is currently on," she said, cackling with much mirth.

Trude moved to pick up the unconscious girl, cradling her close. In order to do so, Trude opened the flow to her magic, allowing the floppy canine ears and tail to appear. The blue glow of magic surrounded her as she called upon the magical strength for which she is famous. There Ranma lay, unconscious, her head against the older girl's breast. Before she had made it even halfway across the room, though, the redhead began to stir in her arms. Trude paused in her trek across the restaurant to look down at the girl.

"Ungh…so soft…" she whispered, half asleep, as she snuggled closer to the source of the warmth and, of course, her soft pillow. It was not long, however, before Ranma truly woke up and realized exactly _what_ it was that she was doing. Under full conscious thought, she snuggled close to get a feel of her pillow, realizing that it is not, in fact, a pillow as she had assumed. She opened her eyes, noticing that she was curled up next a girl, one of the ones from before, she thought. It was then she realized what part of the anatomy she was snuggled up to.

Ranma shot out of Trude's arms, backing away to put as much distance between them as possible. Going through Ranma's head right then was a continuous strain of _'Gonnadie, gonnadie, gonnadie, gonnadie'_ while saying "I'msorry, I'msorry, I'msorry" over and over so fast that they could barely understand what she was saying. Her face was nearly as bright as her hair by the time she had backed into a wall. She brought her hands up over her head as if to protect herself as she crouched down, presenting a smaller target.

Trude went from amused to shocked to concerned as she took in the past twenty seconds, letting her link to her magic dissipate. Lucchini, amused as she was just seconds ago, was shocked to see her sister act in such a way. The others had various expressions of shock and horror on their faces, not believing that someone would think Trude would actually hit her for something like that.

Trude began walking slowly over to Ranma, seeing her not as the powerhouse as she did when she first saw her, or as the chaos magnet/obvious relation to Lucchini. No, at that moment she saw Ranma as a vulnerable younger girl that needed to be comforted, someone akin to her younger sister Chris. _'What happened to her,'_ she thought, _'that would make her react to a little comfort like that?'_

* * *

Back at the Tendo Dojo, Genma-panda was playing shogi with Soun. All of a sudden, the panda lets out an enormous sneeze. **/AAAA-CHOOO!/** the sign read as the panda sneezed. Soun took the opportunity the sneeze provided to shift several pieces on the shogi into an advantageous position for himself. A minute later, the panda recovered and the two resumed their game.

In the kitchen, Akane was sitting down at the table while Kasumi began to prepare dinner. She was sulking, as Kasumi had forbidden her from cooking in her kitchen again that day. _'This sucks,'_ thought the wannabe chef. _'I try to prepare a meal for that baka, but then he goes and insults it. And then what does he do? He comes into MY house with four new floozies practically hanging off of him.'_ Quite suddenly, she let out a very large sneeze. "Oh my," exclaimed Kasumi. "I hope you are not coming down with a cold, Akane," she said as she put her hand to her forehead.

* * *

At the Neko-Hanten, Trude had finally reached Ranma. She slowly knelt down and pulled the younger girl into an embrace. Ranma immediately froze, not making any noise or movement whatsoever. Trude just knelt there, continuing to hold her. Eventually, Ranma became less tense and began to settle down.

Trude smiled as she did this. "There, now, all better Ranma?" Ranma was speechless. Here was a cute, no, a beautiful girl, half naked as well, and she was hugging her. And not hitting her. And no one else was coming over to hit her either.

Hartmann walked over to the two girls. "See, Red? Trude may _look_ grumpy a lot of the time, but really, she's just a big softy." She smiled as she said this, giving her own support to Ranma.

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, though, Shampoo walked out of the kitchen carrying two very large trays full of food. "Food ready!" she exclaimed. "Now, everybody eat Shampoo's too too good ramen." As she served the food, she noticed the position of Ranma and a certain witch. Glaring at Trude, she told her, "Shampoo let go this time, but you no get close to Airen."

Suddenly, the lavender-haired chef let out a loud "OOOWWW!" Cologne could be seen behind her, pulling back her staff and regaining her balance on top of it. "Come, great-granddaughter. We have much to discuss. Let us leave them here to talk. I am sure, after eight years, that Ranma has much to catch up on with her sister." Neither her tone nor her look brooked any opposition, and so Shampoo sullenly followed the matriarch into the back rooms.

After the two had left, Ranma, Trude, and Hartmann made their way back to the tables and sat down. The smell of food soon enticed Ranma out of her shell completely. With a quick "Itadakimasu!" she began to eat in a very fast, yet neat, manner (courtesy of Kasumi). Lucchini quickly followed suit, no longer thinking of her sister's earlier behavior.

Ranma soon noticed the looks on the others' faces. "What?" she asked, lowering her now empty bowl and chopsticks. Lucchini soon lowered hers as well, looking around in confusion. "Why hasn't anyone else eaten yet? Does that mean more for me?" the young girl asked.

Trude was the first to snap out of it, a look of mild disgust on her face at the display of near-gluttony. "My God…that proves it right there. I've never seen anyone else eat like that.

Ranma looked slightly embarrassed. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Kasumi's been tryin' ta break that habit, but it's hard when oyaji keeps tryin' ta steal my food. I gotta eat fast before he takes it."

Similar thoughts were flying through many of the witches' heads, mainly along the lines of how to torture, maim, and deal massive amounts of pain to a certain panda. Of course, most of them would never dream of doing such horrendous deeds to a person just for stealing food off of his child's plate. As for apparently abandoning his daughter, well…while it was a horrible act, it DID allow them to meet up with Lucchini. And with the way Ranma had behaved earlier, it seemed the better of the two scenarios. Come to think of it, why DID Ranma react the way she did?

"Say, Ranma, what actually happened to you after Lucchini, well, you know…was left behind?" asked Shirley. The others looked curiously at the red-head in question.

"Well, the first really clear memory I have after that was oyaji collectin' several c-ca—those feline things and digging a pit. Then…"

* * *

After a few hours, several more bowls of ramen, and four outbursts of rage and incredulity later, Ranma finished her tale describing the events prior to their meeting. She had, however, been vague on a few issues such as the neko-ken, her curse, and the fiancées. "And that's it. I think that's the first time I've told _everything _to anybody but Kasumi. She's been a real lifesaver the past few months."

By the end of the tale, every one of the girls was harboring very dark thoughts for one Genma Saotome. "Well, Ranma," started Minna, "that's quite a life. I am truly sorry for what you have been through." The others nodded while Lucchini clung to her sister, close to tears.

Shampoo sat not far away, growling and grumbling softly to herself. "Why other girls get be so close to Airen? They too, too lucky they is protected by Airen." As she sat there, murderous thoughts began to work their way through her mind.

Sanya looked up at her then, her ears and tail appearing. After only a few seconds of staring at the Chinese Amazon, as if she could sense the thoughts of the other girl, she frowned, a very alien look for her.

Shampoo forced a nervous smile at this, suddenly wondering if the young girl actually _could_ hear her thoughts. She suddenly noticed the ears on Sanya's head, wondering how they got there as she was certain that they weren't there a moment ago.

However, before she could think on this any longer, a loud _CRASH!_ came from the front of the restaurant. They all turned to look and saw a young man—dressed in a white robe and black hair down to his waist—staggering back from the small section of wall between the door and the window. He recovered almost instantly and carefully walked forward through the door. The young man then shot forward, latching onto the first human-shaped thing he encountered and shouted "My darling Shampoo, I've come—!" He stopped suddenly, running his hands over the person. The young girl had a shell-shocked on her face, too out of touch to even scream a protest to the ministrations of the boy. "Shampoo, what happened to you! Your breasts…they're gone!"

As this had been going on, Ranma's face had taken on a red tone, one which deepened with every passing second. As a half-hearted "Stupid Mousse" was grumbled from Shampoo herself, Ranma's hand shot out to wrap itself around the cloaked-boy's neck. "Mousse," she started, "you have 'til the count of three to let go of my sister before I put roast _duck_ on the menu."

Now, while most would not fear the last part of that threat and indeed would be highly confused by the incongruity of the statement, Mousse is not most people. He is, in fact, cursed, just as Ranma is, to change with the application of cold water. And, seeing as his cursed form is, in fact, a _duck_, he hastily complied with Ranma's demand.

However, this being Nerima, nothing could work out that easily. Mousse reached into one of the many hidden subspace pockets of his robe and pulled out a pair of coke-bottle glasses. As he set them on his face, he glared at the redhead that had accosted him, also taking in the multitude of half-naked women sitting around her. "Ranma, you enemy of women! How dare you surround yourself with half-naked women and then bring them here! For insulting my Shampoo and tossing her aside, you will die!" he demanded angrily. "Fight me!" he shouted, drawing several weapons from his subspace pockets.

Before he could get an attack off, the young man seemed to disappear into his clothes. A quacking sound could be heard emanating from the robe. Cologne stood behind the pile of duck and robe, an empty glass in her hand. Seeing all of this take place, Shirley shouted out "Just how many people in this town are cursed!"

"Well," began Ranma, "there's me, oyaji, Ryoga, Mousse, Shampoo," Ranma shivered as she thought about Shampoo's cursed form, "and Pantyhose Taro."

"Wait, there's someone named "Pantyhose"?" Shirley asked, incredulity clear in her voice.

"Yep."

When Ranma said that she was cursed, Hartmann got a very sneaky look on her face, one that Trude recognized immediately. "Don't even think about it," she hissed at her blond roommate.

"Think about what?" she asked in what she thought was an innocent voice. She picked up her glass of water and slowly got out of her seat, walking around behind Ranma.

Before she knew what was going on, Ranma found herself cold and wet, _again_. "Hey, I thought you said you were cursed!" Hartmann complained. Ranma groaned at this. While she didn't think that her sister would be friends with such judgmental people, there was always the chance that they would find her a pervert, as Akane and several of the girls at school did, or a freak, as most people who learned of the curse did. She did not want either of those situations happening, not after seeing her sister again.

"That's because I'm currently in my cursed form right now." She sighed at the confused looks on several of the girl's faces. "I was a boy before I got the curse." Hearing this, several of the girls fainted. Of those left conscious, the ones who had not known of the curse already looked as if they were about faint. Unfortunately for Ranma, one of the girls knocked a glass of water over when she fainted. Actually, it would be more correct to say that she knocked it flying. Right into the only cursed victim still in the un-cursed form: Shampoo.

As Shampoo started to _meow_ and _hiss_ while trying to get free from her relatively larger clothes, Ranma turned toward the sound. A fearful look found its way onto her face. She slowly got out of her seat and began to back away from the bundle of clothes on the floor. As Shampoo finally broke free from her constraints, it became evident to those still awake exactly _what_ her cursed form was. As the white and pink cat fully freed itself, it began to walk towards Ranma, who suddenly increased the speed at which she was backing up.

"C-c-c…" she began to stutter fearfully. "C-c-cat!" she yelled, turning around and running full speed away from the furry little demon. As she ran, she broke through the front wall of the restaurant with only minimal loss of speed. Shampoo, looking as dejected as a cat can look, slowly walked back towards her great-grandmother, who was, by this time, laughing quite loudly and openly.

On an end note, Ranma was halfway out of Nerima before she calmed down enough to stop running. She looked around sheepishly and began walking towards the Neko-Hanten, not once thinking about furry little demons with masks of pure cuteness, nope, she definitely was not thinking about how they would love to try to eat her again.

**Japanese translations**

**Shogi:** a kind of Japanese chess…more complicated than that, but sufficient for most people's understanding

**Itadakimasu:** thank you for the food, let's eat, etc.

**Oyaji:** old man; term of disrespect

**Neko-Hanten:** Cat Cafe


End file.
